


First meeting --

by Blaiddsumu



Series: Roman Gothic [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: First Meetings, Friendship, Gen, It's only hinted at, Monsters, Oneshot, Original work - Freeform, all the characters are nervous, even the monster tbh, the beginnings of a friendship, time travel?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 07:45:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11619093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blaiddsumu/pseuds/Blaiddsumu
Summary: -- kind of.Serif makes a new friend(?) when she's out on patrol. Not surprising, since when you save someone's life they're usually pretty grateful and would be glad to make friends. It doesn't help that she's (or rather, the Shadowbeast, as she's known. Masks can be very useful in hiding one's identity.) been getting more popular as she saves more people from the monsters in the night.





	First meeting --

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and WELCOME to an ORIGINAL WORK in my original universe where i try so hard at naming stuff and then don't.   
> [I edited this from when i first posted it btw, literally the entire summary and these notes and even the title have been fixed, plus some stuff in the actual story]  
> Some notes, and context, before you begin:  
> Serif's name is pronounced "sare-eef" or "share-eef" or "serr-eef" or somethin similar but it's not pronounced like the kind of font (at the insistence of friends sldkjf). basically, the vowels are the ones with the accent on them, and the other letters are,, softer? i have a way of pronouncing it in my head i just don't know how to word-ify it. The r in her name is also not a hard r, unlike with most english.  
> Katie Wolfe is... well she's not from somewhere else, but more like some _when_ else. i'm sure you can figure out what that means pretty easily.

The monster crawled along the starlit rooftops of the city, easily  crossing the gaps between buildings with its many insectoid legs and long wrinkly body. It was searching for something, a human to capture and hide away. Serif watched, following it from a short distance away. She had a clue as to what kind of creature this was, but she needed to get a closer look to be sure, it didn’t make sense if that creature was here, in the big city, and nobody noticed it.

 

__ __ _ tap,                      tap,                      tap,                      tap, _

 

A sound from the streets below drew the monster’s attention. The large creature paused and tilted its head, looking and listening for the source of the noise, before quickly, yet silently, scurrying down the side of a particularly tall building.

 

It had found its prey.

 

Serif started, then leaped off the the building next to the monster’s and pressed a spot on her back, activating her glider. It stretched out with a faint cyan glow, semi-transparent but physical enough to support Serif’s weight. She hovered weightless at the peak of her jump for the briefest of moments, then dived into the blackness of the streets between the tall towers. Before she reached the ground she slowed her fall, and her feet touched the ground in the middle of the street, before the monster.

 

A young woman stood behind Serif, staring in shock at the giant creature as it climbed down the building. She jumped when Serif suddenly appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, eyes wide and arms pulled towards her middle. 

 

“ **YOU THERE!** ” Serif shouted, the voice changer in her mask altering her speech, “ **RUN INTO THE NEAREST UNLOCKED BUILDING, YOU WILL BE SAFE WHILE I CHASE THIS MONSTER AWAY.** ” 

 

She turned her attention back to the monster, hoping that this stranger would heed her words and run.

 

The creature stopped in front of Serif, instincts telling it that she would not let it capture its prey. However, it moved forward again, seemingly not caring about that. It was going to  _ fight _ .

 

Serif pressed her fingers to the palms of her hands, this time activating her blasters. They formed with a cyan light in her grip, pulled from a pocket dimension anchored to her suit. She raised the blasters and fired a warning shot in front of the creature, giving her enough time as it hesitated once again to recognize it as a Lermor, a magical creature native to swampy regions.  _ That’s strange _ , Serif thought,  _ what is it doing in the city? _

 

The Lermor moved forward again, and began its attack. Two of its large, pointy legs came crashing down at Serif, but she easily dodged, firing off two shots at the creature, aiming for its massive, lumpy body.

 

One shot hit its leg, leaving a superficial injury on the tough carapace, and the other hit just behind its head. The Lermor let out a thunderous squeal, glancing behind Serif almost longingly, then backed away from Serif. Its wounds were glowing cyan from the blaster shots, but a desaturated glowing purple liquid was beginning to cover that up, likely its magical blood or something akin to that. 

 

The monster crawled away into the darkness of the streets to nurse its wound, leaving behind puddles of the purple liquid. Serif watched it as it left, making sure it wasn’t going to return, before walking up to one of the puddles of glowing blood.

 

She reached down to her side and pressed a spot on the side of her leg, this time summoning a small pouch containing different types of phials. She slid out an empty one and carefully scooped up some of the purple magic, then marked it and returned it to its spot. 

 

As Serif desummoned the pouch, she heard a noise behind her and quickly turned, getting ready to activate the blasters again, but stopped as she saw the who created the sudden sound.

 

“ **I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO HIDE.** ” she growled at the young woman from earlier, who was unsuccessfully hiding behind a small decorative pillar. She gave a sheepish smile and stepped out from behind the debatable hiding place. Serif was a little annoyed at her, and couldn’t help but show some of it in her tone.

 

“I wanted to thank you for saving me. Besides, what kind of person would I be if I just ran and hid?” The other said as she nervously adjusted her glasses.

 

“ **A SAFE ONE.** ” Serif replied, a little bit of annoyance leaving her tone. She really couldn’t hold on to her anger very long, especially if there really wasn’t any reason to be angry. The beglasses-ed girl looked down,expression unreadable, but looked back up with a glint in her eyes.

 

“Haha, yeah, I guess you’re right. Nice to meet you. My name is Katie Wolfe, by the way.” She stuck out her hand, “Feel free to, uh, look me up I guess? Though, I’m kinda...  _ new _ ... here so I doubt you’ll find anything, haha... ” She began to blush, regretting that last bit, but Serif took her hand, giving it a firm shake. 

 

“ **I’LL KEEP THAT IN MIND.** ” Serif said as she released her grip. This Katie was likeable enough.

 

“Ahaha, who am I kidding, trying to make friends with  _ the Shadowbeast _ , of all people?” Katie laughed, taking a step back. Serif’s brows creased together in confusion, though Katie wouldn’t be able to tell through Serif’s mask. She knew she had a reputation, that’s what happens when you save people from monsters, but the way Katie acted seemed like… Serif couldn’t tell, but it was weird.

 

“ **. . . WHAT?** ” 

 

A look of panic crossed Katie’s face, which was quickly replaced by another unreadable expression.

 

“Right, uh, sorry. Ignore that, just got a little ahead of myself. heh.” she said, looking around for some sort of distraction as she muttered something else under her breath. It sounded almost like she said  _ more like behind myself, _ but that wouldn’t make any sense. Katie couldn’t find an escape route -- they were completely alone, as per usual when it was dark. Serif could tell this was something she wouldn’t be able to ignore, but she let it go anyways. Perhaps, if she got to know this Katie, she would find out eventually.

 

“ **. . . DO YOU GO TO ANY SCHOOLS AROUND HERE?** ” Serif asked, breaking the awkward tension but immediately regretting saying anything. Why did she ask that? This Katie could be like, thirty years older than her but really young looking, ohhh man why can’t she just think before she says something. The sudden and seemingly unrelated question caught Katie off guard for a moment, but she managed to answer.

 

“I- what? Oh. oh! Yeah, I’m going to McMannford, starting next week, since I just moved in. Fortunately, it’s near the beginning of the school year, so I shouldn’t have missed  _ too _ much.” She said, confused and grinning uncertainly. 

 

Serif smiled. Surprisingly enough, that was the school she went to. Turns out her fears were unfounded. Or maybe she was more nervous. Who knows. She hoped the smiled showed through the glowing lights in her mask’s eyes, as it covered her entire face. They were added as a way to supposedly help show emotion, but it turned out that they only really showed where she was looking. 

 

Pleasant surprise aside, Katie was still out in the streets, and would be in danger if she was left alone and unarmed. There was, after all, a reason nobody went out at night.

  
“ **KATIE, THIS MAY SEEM LIKE A STRANGE QUESTION, BUT WHERE DO YOU LIVE? I NEED TO MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT RUN INTO ANOTHER MONSTER.** ” Serif said. Katie nodded in understanding, and the two began to walk to Katie’s home, quietly chatting about nothing in particular on the way to pass the time.


End file.
